The Emergence of Emotion: A Reconceptualization of Its Constructive Mechanisms

Emotion science lacks stable, interoperable definitions for many of its central constructs (e.g., emotion, mood, affect, feeling, goals, desires, drives, etc.). This semantic instability undermines construct validity, invites jingle-jangle fallacies, and hinders cumulative synthesis across studies and methods. Advancing psychology and the philosophy of mind demands a precise semantic foundation for emotion classification. I use clear definitions, keep levels distinct, and map relations among categories; this organizes terms, prevents construct drift, and explains systematic relations (oppositions, families, and graded boundaries) among categories. The goal is not to claim final definitions but to provide a precise, revisable specification that helps researchers pre-register hypotheses, compare results across methods, and adjudicate among competing accounts with clearer failure modes.

Looking forward, the same semantic backbone also scaffolds the next frontier of AI: affective-computing systems. Without exact representations of emotion—what the labels denote, how components combine, and how states transition—intelligent systems will struggle to approximate human-like understanding or agency. A componential, multi-level taxonomy provides implementable targets and bridging rules for inference and control, providing LLM with a “cognitive” architecture that evaluates and constructs emotion-relevant states.

If you’d like to discuss it, you can reach me at emotionalintuition@gmail.com. A practical application of the framework is available as an interactive graphical model for learning at https://emotionalintuition.com/